


Commitment is Key

by sleepyoceanprince (fynndin)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Canon-Typical Violence, Drabble Sequence, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Natasha is a troll, Pre-Slash, Tony Feels, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-17 10:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11850024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fynndin/pseuds/sleepyoceanprince
Summary: These are the results of a key-exchange someone organized in a spur of the moment on the Winteriron Discord-server. There will be four works in total and each should be done within two days respectively. Every chapter is a stand-alone drabble. It's more writing practice than anything else, so don't expect my a-game. I hope it's still entertaining.The tags don't all apply to every chapter. Chapters will have the relevant tags in the notes. The title of each chapter is the key I worked with.And now, go have fun and maybe leave me a comment if you liked any of it =)First chapter summary:Some mornings are a joy to wake up to. Most are not. This definitely isn't one of them. It takes a few minutes for Tony to realize, justhowbad of a morning it is. Luckily he has experience with losing everything and starting from scratch, cause he's probably gonna need it.





	1. Waking Up From The Sunlight On Your Face

**Author's Note:**

> Tags/Warnings: Alcohol abuse/Alcoholism, Vomiting, Canon-typical violence, Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship
> 
> Thanks to Amonae for helping me to sort this mess out into a coherent story <3

First thing Tony registered was, that it was warm and bright. For a short moment, the expectation of enjoyment, a lazy morning with the sunlight waking him up almost made him smile. Then the nausea hit him like a freight train. It was too bright. Too hot. Too loud. There weren't even any sounds he could make out, but his pulse was thrumming in his ears. With a groan he pulled the blanket over his face.

"J, darken the windows" he slurred.

There was an answer and the light dimmed, but Tony didn't register the word. The sound of his own rasping, low voice made him aware of precisely how wrecked he felt. His stomach was rummaging, his head was pounding, his tongue felt pelted and dry. 

Hungover.

Tony burst out into a flurry of motion, tried to push off the blanket and stumble out of his bed towards- he wasn't even sure towards what. It didn't matter since his foot caught in the blanket and had him tumble and crash into the wall. The pounding in his head grew into full on pain and his vision swam with bright spots flickering through.

And still, his poor circulation did not stop the memories from flooding in. Memories of how yesterday had been a shitshow of a day. How three of his suits had gone rogue - hacked - and one of them leveled an entire building before he could finally push through the attacker's grasp to trigger the self destruction protocol. How in his following break down, he had gotten into a fight with Bucky. With Bucky of all people, who had basically carried him through several break downs and panic attacks. But not even Bucky had managed to talk Tony out of getting a drink. Several, really. So many, that he didn't even remember, how Bucky had left.

Tony felt his stomach heaving and every image he could come up with of how exactly Bucky might have left only made it worse. He finally managed to shake the damned blanket off, stumbled into the bathroom and made it to the toilet just in time to not puke onto the floor. When he was pretty sure, that there was nothing left in him to come out, he slumped down, curled up on the floor in an attempt to calm down. Maybe also in an attempt to push off further musings on how or why exactly he was alone now.

Then again, how was that even a question. He had promised to stop drinking. He had promised Bucky above all other to do this one thing, whatever would happen and Bucky had been as supportive, as understanding as anyone could be.

And then yesterday had happened.

He didn't understand why the headache grew into new heights until he registered his own, broken voice echoing off of the tiles. He stopped screaming.

At least that worked. The headache now hardly left any room for thinking. He stared at structured, cement-grey tile in front of him until the room stopped spinning. Pushing away thoughts as they came, he got up made his way to the sink, splashed cold water into his face and dug pain killers out of the drawer. He already felt the guilt crawling back in again, screwed his eyes shut and pushed back. When he washed the pill down, he almost didn't feel like utter shit anymore. Almost.

He went back into the bedroom and put on the first shirt and pants he managed to grab out of his closet. A shower would probably make him feel physically better but also left far too much time for stray thoughts and dwelling wouldn't help. There were problems to fix. There always were, and more so on the day after his own tech had destroyed an entire office building. Thank fuck it had been late evening. Some of these days he'd also have to face the Pr fallout, but today he'd focus on hard, fact based problems. Problems consisting of tech, code and math. Everything else would make him freak right out. 

Assistive tech for the people who had landed in the hospital. That was a good, solvable problem. Updating security systems of the remaining suits that were currently in hard lock down. Or, if that turned out to be too hard, destroying them all. Maybe he'd revolutionize the ways of sorting through ruined buildings before tomorrow morning. So many things were possible if Tony was just dead set on avoiding thoughts.

And he had to contact Bucky. Then again, what was there to say anyway? He had screwed up. But Bucky knew that already.

He'd get to that at some point. For now he was in the elevator, laying out work arounds for security code.

~~~~~

Tony dropped the circuit board into the trash can and sent the trash can skittering across the floor with a well estimated kick. As it toppled over and spilled its contents onto the floor, Tony flopped onto his work bench. There had been nothing well estimated about the kick. There had been nothing well estimated, well executed or well calculated about any part of the day so far. He glanced at the clock. Two hours since he had entered the workshop and all he had to look at was an attempted code patch that contained an even worse security hole (found by JARVIS), a series of rough sketches for mobility aids that didn't actually have any chance of working and an entire array of wrecked tech parts that he had wired up only to find out that he couldn't even match up the contacts correctly today.

And two burns on his left hand, courtesy of his soldering iron. Best achievement of the day.

Maybe he should get back into bed and wait for another day to come. Not that he'd be able to sleep, but at least there he couldn't destroy anything by accident.

He thought about the other problem he had yet to find a fix for. Before he could think anything through and decide against it, he had dug out his phone. 12 calls in absence from Bucky. 3 messages on his mailbox. Tony didn't think he could take any of them right now without getting right back to where he stopped last night. He directly dialed through to Bucky's mailbox. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd even say, but he'd figure that out soon enough. Hopefully.

As the automatic voice rattled down Bucky's cell number, the ghost of a smile crept onto Tony's face. Remembering their endless mock-debates on how he really should come up with a proper answer for the machine vs how it was totally useless since Bucky'd just take calls he wanted to take any didn't expect anyone to use it anyway.

Well, now Tony was using it. And he wouldn't think about what exactly that said about where they were now. There was the beep.

He took a deep breath and started with what everyone thought he wasn't capable to say: "I'm sorry, Bucky. I'm still not sure how saying this helps, but you always told me to say it when I am. Not that I expect this to change anything now, but I am fucking sorry and I promise that this is the last time I will bother you." 

Slowly Tony saw what direction his thoughts were going. While he had no plan, there was really only one way to go about this anyway. When he tried to get out the next word, his voice cracked on first attempt. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers onto his eyelids. He pointedly ignored how wet they felt and hoped that Bucky wouldn't hear the broken sound he had just made on record.

"Admittedly I'm not even sure what precisely I'm sorry about, since I can't remember most of last night. Guess that alone speaks volumes. I promised not to go there again and yet, here I am. Anyway. I'm not sure where you are now, but you still have all your stuff around here. I assume you'll want that back, so. I'm not sure what is yours, I guess the easiest is if you just come over here and get it.You can still live somewhere in the tower as long as you want to. Not much chance of running into me anywhere. I understand if you don't want to anyway. Just, i don't know, handle that with JARVIS, he'll tell you what's where and- what am I doing, I don't have to tell you how to talk to J. And just, you know, ask him if I'm around in case you don't wanna bump into me while you're up there. I will now... I'm gonna... Whatever."

He hung up. Way to make an exit. Not that it mattered anymore.

Tony headed over to the adjacent bathroom, filled the sink with cold water and submerged his face in it until he felt his lungs screaming for air. When he pulled out, he felt at least somewhat clear headed for the first time this day. He also felt like he could use another drink. A voice in the back of his mind whispered that since he had fucked up everything it wouldn't matter now anyway. 

He splashed water into his face again. 

Fucking up once did not mean, it didn't matter anymore. He'd push through, keep going. Like he always did. Alone again. Like he always did.

With a sigh he turned back to the workshop and called up the holographic screen with his previous attempts of coming up with cleanup tech for large scale debris. Since he saw his mistakes now, he could maybe finally get some productive work done.

~~~~

His growling stomach reminded Tony that he hadn't actually eaten anything this day yet. The hangover of hell hadn't entirely passed, but his stomach felt stable enough to keep solid food in. And it felt empty. He saved and shut down the current projects and looked over at the kitchenette at the other end of the workshop. He wouldn't do any handy work anymore today. His hands were shaking and quite frankly, stringing complex thoughts together by now felt like an attempt at knitting apple sauce.

He decided to watch some shitty sci fi movie first, then get to bed and if he discovered that he could think again, it wouldn't be his first all night coding session in the sheets.

Only the first since he had been with Bucky. He shook that thought off.

"JARVIS, get a pizza order going and pre-heat the movie couch."

"Of course, Sir. You will find the couch to your liking."

It wasn't JARVIS' best attempt at humor, but Tony appreciated the attempt. He stepped into the elevator and listened to the whoosh of stories passing by.

~~~~

The pizza delivery would take another 15 minutes, so Tony grabbed a coffee and made his way towards to living room. He hadn't actually made up his mind about what to watch, so he'd just tab through the data base for a while. As he stepped into the room, he froze in the door frame and quickly estimated the chances of him still having hungover hallucinations. Then Bucky got up from the couch, turned around and also stopped dead.

Tony had no idea how long they stood there, frozen in time and waiting for the other one to move. Bucky's face didn't help to answer that question, cause he looked like he didn't know what to do or expect himself.

Maybe seconds, maybe hours later, Tony broke the silence: "Sorry, I really didn't expect you here. Now. I mean, I said J would tell you when I'm not here, so I figured you wouldn't-"

Since Tony was just talking without having anything to say, he just stopped as Bucky heaved a deep sigh. "I am painfully aware of when you were not here, since I sat here waiting for the last three hours."

"You did what?" Tony asked incredulously. "Why would you do that?"

Bucky pulled up one corner of his mouth into what almost looked like a smirk. It was just a tad bit too sad. "I would say something cheesy like 'I wanted to get my stuff but couldn't find you', but seriously Tony, what the fuck?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to elaborate on that, cause that applies to pretty much every part of yesterday" Tony replied. Then he wished to all the gods (probably even Loki) that they would finally take away his tongue. Snark? Now? Best timing ever.

Bucky's hand twitched forward only for a blink before he balled it into a fist. "Actually I was talking about today. Yesterday was a train wreck. Let's... not forget yesterday, but maybe wait with sorting that out for a better time."

"But-" Tony's voice failed him. He gulped and tried again. "But the best time was when I was with you."

"Shut up!" Bucky shouted and made Tony flinch.

Bucky jerked as if he tried to shake something off. Then he surged towards Tony with so much determination, Tony took half a step back. Bucky still reached him and harshly pulled Tony against his chest.

"You don't get to decide when I break up with you, you hear me?" Bucky spoke softly, right next to Tony's ear. "If you want to push me away for some twisted reason, you have to end this your goddamn self, but you don't get to decide what I want for us."

For the weirdest few seconds, Tony was overly aware of any haptic feedback. He felt Bucky's breath on his ear, the warmth of his chest, the tiny vibrations of the prosthetic, the fluffy carpet under his feet. The coffee trickling down his leg where his hand had gone slack around the handle of the mug. He pulled himself back into the present.

"What are you talking about?" Tony registered the spite in his own voice. He wanted to believe what Bucky had just implied, but it didn't make any sense. "I promised you to stay sober. I promised that and you said, that you'd stay with me as long as I did." He managed to reign his voice in, but he couldn't take out all of the edge. He definitely couldn't make himself put an arm around Bucky. It would just hurt more if Bucky pulled away. Not if. When.

Bucky in return pulled him in with even more determination. "That is not what I said and you know it."

Tony merely managed to make some kind of confused little noise, before Bucky cut him off. "Yeah, I know, you probably spent the entire day telling yourself that this is what I said - that this is what i _meant_." He pulled back enough to look at Tony, gray eyes switching rapidly back and forth between Tony's. "I said, I'd stay with you as long as you try."

"But-"

"And trying means failing, otherwise it's just doing, silly."

Tony understood all of the words that Bucky had just said. He knew their meaning and somehow also saw that they were right, but he couldn't get his feelings to match. "Maybe that is right in some cases, but I promised I would do it. Not do it. Whatever, you know what I mean." Tony rambled through his racing thoughts. It couldn't just be okay to fucking fail like that.

With every word from Tony's mouth, Bucky's eyes softened a bit more. Somehow he even started smiling a little. "Sugarplum, are you listening to yourself?"

Tony had at least twenty possible answers on the tip of his tongue, none of them even the least helpful. He swallowed and shook his head.

"Good, cause you're talking bullshit."

Tony squeaked when Bucky lifted him up into the air without any warning sign. Moments later he was lowered onto the couch. Then Bucky was sitting next to him, arms slung tightly around Tony's shoulders again. "You promised to try. I couldn't ever accept a promise to just accomplish something like that."

"Yeah, but I failed" Tony started and then stopped before he talked himself back into his old circles. He carefully picked words that did not feel at all like him, but rang true in his mind. "Guess that means I'll have to try again, right?" When he saw Bucky's smile getting wider and his eyes getting just that little bit brighter, he knew it had been the right words.

"Damn right, that's what it means. And you will."

Tony pushed his nose into Bucky's hair and took a deep breath. "How are you so sure of that?" He felt Bucky's hand come up to softly pet his hair.

"Because you promised." Bucky said. "And because you love me, you idiot."

"Boy, do I ever."


	2. "Hold My Leg, I Got This"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky should know better than to challenge Nat. He really should. Or maybe he should not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Tags/Warnings: Pre-Slash. Nothing else, really. Maybe Bucky needs a warning sign because he's a fucking idiot.
> 
> Thanks to dapperanachronism for the spontaneous beta-reading <3

By now the sweat was not beading on but full on running down Bucky's face. He bit his lower lip and his face was contorted in frustrated concentration.

 

"My Christ, Yasha, just admit you didn't think this through." Natasha chuckled from where she was still leaning against the wall of the gym.

 

"Nope," Bucky pressed out between clenched teeth. He felt how speaking that single word had him forget to keep tension on some part in his abdominals. He tried to regain his balance, but ended up stumbling sideways anyways and had to catch himself on both feet to not fall to the floor.

 

Tony stepped closer to him and handed him a towel. "You realize that nobody would ever have made fun of you for not being up to the Black Widow's levels of ballet skills, right?" he said while Bucky wiped the sweat off his face and shoulders.

 

"Would not," Nat threw in "before he spent ten minutes telling me how this is really all not that hard and then twenty minutes failing at performing a somewhat acceptable Arabesque."

 

Bucky took a deep breath. He had dug that ditch all by himself. Really, there was no one else to blame. But fuck him, if he just accepted his defeat.

 

"Hate to tell you, but she's right, Buckaroo," Tony added. Thanks to him for rubbing it in. "Pretty sure the point to pull out with any grace passed roughly ten minutes ago. Which doesn't mean that it wouldn't get worse the longer you keep going." 

 

Tony's amused grin and Nat's smug smirk really didn't leave him a choice.

 

He got back into third position and made sure that his core was stable. With all the physical control and fluid movement he always bragged about, ballet really required some kind of rigid stability that was absolutely not what he knew from fighting. He shifted his right leg back, carefully checking with every inch that he didn't lose the turnout.

 

Oh fuck him, Nat was giggling again, already. She even had the indecency to look like an adorable, innocent person, covering her mouth with her hand when she laughed. There was nothing adorable or innocent about Nat, really. "Your knee's bending," she commented.

 

He straightened his knee. This time he managed to reign the swaying in and stay stable. He pulled his hips back straight and was rather proud when he realized that he had still kept the turnout. Probably his leg was at a ridiculously low angle, but who even cared.

 

"That would be almost good," Nat sneered, "If your arms weren't still in bras bas."

 

Yep, fuck, they were.

 

"Well, and if you didn't look like you were trying to hold in your revolting lunch."

 

Also, Nat could go sit on a cactus. He'd handle this.

 

He tried to lift his arms and immediately felt how the tension on his leg went down. He straightened it and had to realize that by now his shoulders had sagged slightly.

 

Nat had toned down from giggling to occasional, exasperated huffs. Maybe he was doing something right after all.

 

Bucky felt the sweat breaking out on his forehead again. His left shoulder started twitching a little. He had to finish this soon or he'd stumble again.

 

"That looks promising, but don't hurt yourself, Buckybear," Tony said.

 

So close. "Shut up," Bucky forced out. "Come over and hold my leg, I got this."

 

Tony needed a second to process what he'd just heard, then he hesitantly stepped closer to hold Bucky's leg.

 

Nat also needed a moment to process the situation. The moment she did, she erupted into full on laughter. "You can't be serious," she snorted between giggles.

 

Oh how serious he could be. He didn't even put much weight into them, but with Tony's hands reminding him where to keep his leg, he finally managed to get his shoulders and arms up to where they were supposed to be. "Let go," he whispered, trying not to disturb his posture. Tony did and for a glorious moment he was standing in what was the best Arabesque of his life.

 

The glory was tainted ever so slightly by Natasha, who had to lean against the wall and hold her belly with how hard she was laughing.

 

And then it was tainted even more when a mere second before he planned to put his foot back down to the ground, Bucky lost his balance again, tumbled backwards and, before being able to catch himself, crashed into Tony. In his panic to not crush Tony underneath himself, he yanked them both around and hit the ground first, Tony landing on top of him.

 

"I'll let this count," Natasha said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "And I will obviously tell everyone about your glamorous victory."

 

Still huffing under her breath, she left for the showers.

 

Bucky on the other hand found himself staring at a goatee that was hovering mere inches from his face. He stared in trance at the mouth moving above him.

 

Then Tony's words reached his mind: "If you let go of my shirt, I could even get off of you, you know?"

 

Bucky swallowed hard and felt the blush creep up his face. He wouldn't terribly mind Tony staying right there, but that was hardly his decision to make. He let go of the fabric.

 

Tony pushed himself up a few inches. Bucky did feel sad about this passed up chance, but not sad enough to justify the undignified, sad little sound that came from his throat.

 

Instead of getting up completely, Tony froze. Then he looked at Bucky. And then his frown turned into a smile, which turned into a smirk that got wider with every moment. "Oh but Mr Barnes, if this is where you wanted us to be, you could have just asked."

 

"I-" Bucky started and realized he didn't know what he wanted to say. "What?" he asked. Very eloquently.

 

Tony opened his mouth, that smirk still staying firm in place, when they heard Clint groan from the entrance of the gym.

 

"Ugh, why. Get a room, will you?"

 

He still stomped through the hall unperturbed, heading for the locker room.

 

"What an excellent idea," Tony mused. "I happen to have one close by. Several, really. Want to discuss this situation at length and in private?" he asked.

 

Not the kind of victory Bucky had expected of this day, but certainly not one he'd pass up, either. Bucky grinned and pushed them both off the floor. "How could I say no to an offer like that. Lead the way."


	3. How Dare You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky is having a bad morning and Tony is a total goofball in the absolute best way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. Maybe a little crack. That is all. There is absolutely nothing serious here. Least of all Tony. Trust me. Also, there is Stuckony if you want it to be. (I do)

Tony dragged himself into the kitchen and to his dismay discovered that the coffee pot was empty. He grumbled something, not even sure what he intended to say and set the coffee maker to brew up a fresh one. Then he waited. He would have loved to do something meaningful in between, but quite frankly he couldn't even decide upon something he was up for right now. He'd just watch his thoughts go by until he was awake enough to do that.

Slowly he started to take in his surroundings anyway. At some point he even registered that he wasn't actually as alone as he had thought. Bucky was sitting at the far end of the counter, munching cereals without any visible signs of enjoying them, and seemingly tried to stare a hole through the opposing wall.

Next to him, Steve was seated and seemed to have resolved to companionable silence. Tony suspected that an attempt to get Bucky to open up and maybe let someone comfort had already been made. And failed. And if Steve had already given up on that, there really didn't seem to be a point in trying again. Tony watched the two of them sit there and waited for the sputtering of the coffee maker that proclaimed that the pot was full.

Tony was completely aware of how the caffeine couldn't possibly have any immediate effect, but the hot mug in his hands and the scent made him feel instantly more capable to handle the situation. He didn't feel cheerful or positive by any account, maybe neutral but that was about it. He took a sip from his mug, drew in a deep breath and decided to be happy. Bucky needed it.

"Good morning, Buckarino, how is life?" he asked, putting on his most beaming smile. He did not actually wait for an answer but just rambled on.

"If you want my humble opinion, and let's face it - who doesn't? - life is pretty awesome right now, cause last night, you wouldn't believe it, but there are tapes, I solved one of these problems I have been rolling over in my head for. Weeks. Literal weeks." He started pacing behind the two men, completely ignoring how Steve looked at him like he pitied Tony for even trying to get through to Bucky.

"See, the thing is, I finally found out how to streamline and minimize some ion thrusters in a way that i can fit them onto an arrow as stabilizers without them being so bulky that the air resistance outweighs their use. And you know what that means?" He stopped for a moment to shoot Bucky another beaming smile. In return he even got a pained groan.

"I feel you're gonna tell me anyway" Bucky rumbled.

So Bucky wasn't non-verbal anymore. Tony could work with that. "Of course I will. I'm good like that." Steve now looked at Tony like he had lost his marbles. Like Tony cared. He leaned over Bucky's shoulder. "It obviously means Barton can make even weirder trick shots by guiding arrows around corners that would be impossible to steer around. But that you probably guessed. No, the interesting part is: Self tilting coffee mug."

Bucky furrowed his brows and dropped his spoon into the bowl in front of him. Then he turned around to face Tony, so slowly it was almost comical. He also looked like he was in physical pain. "What even the fuck are you talking about?"

Tony managed to giggle before he went on. He lifted his mug and let it sway through the air a little. "You know, putting a thruster under a mug is like the oldest and stupidest inventor idea ever. Problem is, it's also fucking stupid, because one thruster would lack the required fine tuning to keep a cup full of liquid stable." He wobbled with the mug and made the coffee slosh around in it a little. "Side stabilizers would be fucking huge and look stupid. Unless -" He made the mug go in a smooth zig-zag line towards Bucky's face "you use TITS."

Bucky narrowed his eyes and his mouth fell open. A perfect opportunity for Tony to pour a tiny sip of coffee into it and make Bucky sputter. "You use WHAT?!" he screamed.

"TITS" Tony repeated. "Tiny ion thruster stabilizers. You think that needs work? Probably does. JARVIS make a note, don't let me come up with acronyms anymore if I haven't slept within the last 36 hours."

"Noted, Sir" the AI confirmed.

Tony took that moment to actually look at Bucky. He looked less tense. Less murderous. There even was the tiniest itch in the corner of his mouth.

"Where was I?" Tony just handed his coffee mug to Bucky all together. There was no protest. "Right, day being good. I got about 6 hours of sleep last night, which actually makes me feel better, but don't let Pepper hear that. And I'm gonna visit a children's hospital in two hours. Which is great for two reason, one being that children are just the best. They are not nearly as much of a bunch of lying and scheming bastards as adults are and they know how to be excited." He stopped talking.

He could practically see Bucky growing impatient.

Tony lifted one eyebrow.

Bucky groaned. "What the hell is reason two, asshole?"

Tony couldn't help it. He chuckled. He realized that by now he didn't have to act any more. He had convinced himself that he was happy. "Reason two is that my two favorite super soldiers will come with me to tell tiny little rug rats that they will be heroes some day, if they just believe in it."

Steve leaned over so he could look at Tony from where he sat behind Bucky. He also spread out his hands, narrowed his eyes and formed a silent "What?!" with his mouth.

"We will do what?" Bucky asked incredulously, but still with an upwards tug on his mouth.

Tony pulled up a barstool, sat down right in Bucky's space and leaned forward so he was mere inches from his face. "Or will you not? Come on, Bananarnes."

Bucky turned away and tried to disguise his upcoming chuckle as a hiccup.

"Yes? You in, Barney Boy?"

He still tried to stop, but Bucky was shaking with the upcoming laughter now.

"That's a yes, right, Bucky-Ham Palace?"

That was it. Bucky lost it. For a second he closed his eyes and kept it silent. Then he let himself fall back against Steve and laughed out loud, his voice echoing through the kitchen.

"There you go" Tony whispered and watched. He'd never get tired of watching Bucky, less so if he was laughing.

Eventually Bucky reigned himself in enough to wipe the tears away that had started gathering in his eyes. "Fuck you" he said through the remaining chuckles that had him bob a little in his seat. "How dare you."

"You're welcome?" Tony tried. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of Bucky's reaction.

"I'm trying to be all glum and broody here and then-" Bucky vaguely gestured all over Tony "and then you come along. All stupid and flashy 'n shit."

Tony snatched Bucky's hand from where it had been waving towards him. "Hey, I'm not sure what had you go all teenage goth punk today, but if you were in a bad mood for a reason, I'm pretty sure talking to someone or have someone distract you is better than brooding."

"For a change he's actually talking sense, Buck" Steve threw in. Tony gave him a playful glare.

"However, if there was no reason" Tony continued "it was probably high time I got you out of there. No useless brooding on my watch."

Bucky smiled at him and looked down at his hand that was caught between Tony's. "Guess you're right." He looked up. "Thanks, Tony.

"Any time" Tony said.

They sat there for a moment, hands linked while Steve leaned in just enough to maintain some kind of contact with Bucky.

"You didn't actually call it TITS, though, did you?" Bucky asked eventually.

Tony pulled away one hand to scratch his neck awkwardly. "I may have made some of that up to tell something entertaining." Bucky and Steve looked at him expectantly. "I mean, it would be kind of funny to call it that?" Their faces stayed frozen in anticipation. "It would not? Okay, it would not. But I have to finish them first, anyway. That part I also made up. They're still either too big or don't have enough output."

Bucky rolled his eyes and sighed. "I probably shouldn't be that impressed any more that you managed to invent some filthy acronym on the spot, and yet. But I'm actually a little disappointed that I will not be going to a children's hospital today to goof around with little kids."

"Oh that part was true" Tony said nonchalantly. When he saw Bucky light up, he rushed to elaborate: "Well, it's on my agenda for today anyway and I'm sure there is no kid in the world who'd pass up a three-for-one deal on meeting Avengers. So yeah." He gestured at both of them. "I guess nobody will be mad at me if I just drag you both along." He schooled his face to look stern for once and held up his index finger. "One condition."

Both of them furrowed their brows, but waited for him to go on. "Jamethy here actually takes care of whatever made him so grumpy today. And if you need someone to listen to you complain about stuff... I'm sure, Steve will do that."

"Hey" Steve mock-protested and reached over to bump Tony's shoulder.

"Sure, he already offered that anyway" Bucky said and shrugged. "But yeah, will do. And I think for now, I'd like to-" He broke off and just stretched out his arms towards Tony. Tony had no reasons to argue with that, got up and stepped forward until he could press Bucky's head against his chest. For a moment Steve sat there, still leaning against Bucky and smiling. Then a metal hand twisted into his shirt and he was pulled flat against Bucky's back. He slung his arms around Bucky's waist and leaned his head between the shoulder blades in front of him.

That was indeed a much better start of the day than Tony had hoped for. TITS or not.


End file.
